77Gumption77 t1_j3s9tgv wrote on January 10, 2023 at 6:56 PM

Reply to comment by mikevago in [OC] Every $ I spent in 2022 as a 26M living in Washington, DC by Coloncologne

> It's a problem for the whole country. There are places with lots of high-paying jobs that are too expensive to live, and places that are cheap to live and don't have good jobs. And maybe you can luck into a situation that avoids that trend, but overall that's the trend.

There is, of course, absolutely no problem with the choice you made. But you have to understand that you did just that- you made a choice. And your perspective is one endemic to those living in NYC- there aren't the kinds of jobs I want elsewhere, therefore there aren't jobs elsewhere. You chose to have a career in a very particular field: publishing. This is not a high-paying field. You made a choice to earn less for a job you preferred.

There are literally 100,000s of unfilled jobs that pay more than publishing all over the country. With comparable experience, you could have earned more tiling floors or doing roofing. You could have been a sheet-metal worker, plumber, electrician, cop, welder... the list is long.

Personally, I cannot understand the appeal of living in NYC (as someone from Cleveland, having visited friends there many times). It's a fine place to visit. But have an acre of property on a street with a community center (with an indoor pool!), good public schools, and the rest... for less than the cost of a 1BD Brooklyn apartment. Really- my mortgage is around 3K/month. I don't understand it, but, then again, you probably don't understand why I'd want live in Cleveland, either XD. To each his own.

mikevago t1_j3sjdf6 wrote on January 10, 2023 at 7:55 PM

Obviously, everyone has their own priorities (and I absolutely understand wanting to live in Cleveland). And I'm in Jersey City, which is a little cheaper than NYC proper, and we have a few of the best public schools in the state. (and we have public pools here too, and an indoor ice skating rink!) And not to brag, but my mortage is less than yours (I happened to buy when interest rates were at their absolute lowest!).

But you can't really tell a children's book designer "you could have been an electrician!" any more than you can tell an electician "you could have been a children's book designer." I'm really not cut out for that kind of work at all. I gravitated to this career because it was what I was good at and enjoyed. (And I was lucky to be able to do that, and everyone should be just as lucky).